OOTS Polls (feat. Favourite NPC Tournament)

[oppyu]

#855 - And They Got Extra Credit For It, Too
Who will be the ultimate big bad of the comic?
Xykon: 16 - 57.14%
Redcloak: 5 - 17.86%
IFCC: 5 - 17.86%
Order of the Scribble: 1 - 3.57%
Flumphs: 1 - 3.57%

A testament to Xykon's (and Redcloak's) staying power. And as much as I like Sabine, this was never going to be close.

Round 2, Match 3
: 25 - 89.29%
: 3 - 10.71%

#856 - I Guess You Had to Be There
Who is Sabine truly loyal to? Nale or the IFCC?

Round 2, Match 4
"Perfect! The Linear Guild is practically synonymous with taking disproportionate revenge over quasi-imagined slights!"

VS

"Caw CAW! Caw caw caw caw, caw!" *Screw THAT! You're on your own, mammal!

[Gift Jeraff]

I think she's personally split between the two, but just so I can bold the same character name twice in one post: Nale.

Nale.

[Emperordaniel]

Nale and Blackwing.

[rgrekejin]

I think Sabine will choose the IFCC over Nale, although I really wish she wouldn't.

Nale over Blackwing.

[MeanMrsMustard]

I think Sabine is loyal to Nale over the IFCC.
I like Nale and Blackwing, but I like Blackwing more.

[zimmerwald1915]

#856 - I Guess You Had to Be There
Who is Sabine truly loyal to? Nale or the IFCC?

My honest opinion is that true loyalty is something beyond Sabine's capacity.

Round 2, Match 4
"Perfect! The Linear Guild is practically synonymous with taking disproportionate revenge over quasi-imagined slights!"

VS

"Caw CAW! Caw caw caw caw, caw!" *Screw THAT! You're on your own, mammal!

gets my vote in spite of your using one of his mediocre lines.

[Emanick]

Nale. And again, Nale.

For some reason I've been ticked off at Blackwing ever since he called himself a "super stealth dinosaur." I hate when people refer to birds as dinosaurs; I recognize the evolutionary connection, but you might as well call dinosaurs fish.

Yes, yes, I know I'm an irrational knee-jerk aviophobe. I gotta be me.

[Ted The Bug]

I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the future, Sabine has to make a choice between the two. And my guess is, she'll choose Nale.
I don't particularly like Nale all that much, but he beats the hell out of Blackwing, who is one of the few characters in the strip who I genuinely wish had never been written in.

[Grail]

At the end, Sabine will choose her masters, the IFCC. As a fiend, she is incapable of love, she might think she is, but she isn't, and when push comes to shove, she'll side against Nale. I actually think it will be Sabine that will kill Nale.

et tu Sabine?

[Snippy]

Ooh, I'm going to go with Nale here.

And though I'm not particularly fond of either, I'll say Blackwing for the NPC tournament.

[JaaSwb]

I'm going to go with Nale

Also, Blackwing.

[Mike Havran]

If Sabine has to choose one over the other, she will go with Nale. Qarr already represents someone who is loyal to the IFCC.

Nale all the way when opposed against a glorified class feature.

[Meph]

If Sabine has to choose one over the other, she will go with Nale. Qarr already represents someone who is loyal to the IFCC.

But Qarr too would have sticked himself to someone's else (V), it's in the fiend nature to interact with mortals. Just to corrupt them, maybe with all their black hearts, but still just to corrupt them. Then, in difference with Therkla, being Sabine an outsider she will belong to her kind, specially when act differently would mean be dead (as I suppose the IFCC would do if she'd switch). So,Sabine's loyalty? IFCC, no way.

Nale or Blackwing? It's a hard choice to me. I quite dislike them both, but the sentence you quoted from Nale is very elegant, so I'm picking him.

[FAD!]

Nale and Nale. I feel like we haven't seen the best of Blackwing yet.

[t209]

#856 - I Guess You Had to Be There
Who is Sabine truly loyal to? Nale or the IFCC?

Round 2, Match 4
"Perfect! The Linear Guild is practically synonymous with taking disproportionate revenge over quasi-imagined slights!"

VS

"Caw CAW! Caw caw caw caw, caw!" *Screw THAT! You're on your own, mammal!

Nale- There is a power of love even in evil.

[Kish]

The IFCC (more because of not thinking she has any real concept of loyalty) and Blackwing.

[Lycunadari]

She'll chose the IFCC.

all the way.

[Kalrany]

I agree with zimmerwald1915, and that Sabine does not have true loyalty. However, I think she will choose ICFF over Nale out of self-preservation.

Also, a poor line choice from Blackwing, but I still prefer him over Nale. Honestly, Nale is not that interesting of a character for me.

[Forealms]

Nale. She's been working directly with him for years, with little contact with the IFCC. I can't see her abandoning him.

Blackwing. Nale, as a character, is fairly predictable and shallow. He's ambitious, arrogant (to the point where it seriously damages his effectiveness), and is clever enough to think he can run a successful Xanatos gambit, but cannot.

[Smolder]

IFCC, since it looks like Sabine is knowingly leading Nale to his own destruction.

Blackwing, because I dislike Nale (as I'm intended to, I guess) but also because Blackwing's role in this is only going to grow, while Nale is barely holding on to relevance.

[martianmister]

Nale X Nale

[Bulldog Psion]

IFCC -- the comic about that was even called "Where Her Loyalties Lie", and then she was shown lying to Nale about her loyalty to him. And now you can see she's playing him -- Nale is doomed. And it would go far to showing just how different an outsider from a morality plane is from a mortal being, too.

Nale by far. I don't particularly like him, but he's a lot more interesting character than a talking bird who's had maybe 20 lines total.

[137beth]

Definitely the IFCC. She is a being of pure evil, and will act accordingly.

Also, Blackwing.

[Forealms]

IFCC -- the comic about that was even called "Where Her Loyalties Lie", and then she was shown lying to Nale about her loyalty to him. And now you can see she's playing him -- Nale is doomed. And it would go far to showing just how different an outsider from a morality plane is from a mortal being, too.

I don't think she was lying to Nale. In the last two panels, she says "Right behind you, honey."

When she says "All the way" in the next panel, I think she's more talking to herself than to Nale, especially since it seems (to me) that she shrugged off Qarr's concerns about her loyalty to the IFCC. She doesn't tell Qarr that she's loyal, she tells him to mind his own business.

This is not directed at you, Bulldog Psion, but for those saying Evil can't love, Tsukiko's a fairly good example of Evil love. She loves her wights, even if it's not exactly reciprocated, to a fault. Truly loves, not lusts (necessarily), as she thinks of them as her children. That's kind of motherly love, not romantic love, but I can't imagine someone would accept that a hypothetical Evil person could love their children but not their husband or wife.

[Bulldog Psion]

I
This is not directed at you, Bulldog Psion, but for those saying Evil can't love, Tsukiko's a fairly good example of Evil love. She loves her wights, even if it's not exactly reciprocated, to a fault. Truly loves, not lusts (necessarily), as she thinks of them as her children. That's kind of motherly love, not romantic love, but I can't imagine someone would accept that a hypothetical Evil person could love their children but not their husband or wife.

Hold that thought. I agree with you that evil people can love. The problem is that Sabine isn't people in the strict sense of the word. She's an alien, eldritch embodiment of evil -- not a corrupted mortal, but a minor avatar of evil. She's malice made physical. It's pretty hard to imagine some thing like that succumbing to a more tender emotion even part of the time.

Plus, we already did that a couple of times with Therkla and Tsukiko. It's time for an inhuman betrayal, IMO.

Most likely, I'm talking tosh here, but I'm still going to have to stick to my vote of IFCC and betrayal, despite your eloquence.

[rgrekejin]

Hold that thought. I agree with you that evil people can love. The problem is that Sabine isn't people in the strict sense of the word. She's an alien, eldritch embodiment of evil -- not a corrupted mortal, but a minor avatar of evil. She's malice made physical. It's pretty hard to imagine some thing like that succumbing to a more tender emotion even part of the time.

Plus, we already did that a couple of times with Therkla and Tsukiko. It's time for an inhuman betrayal, IMO.

I would just like you to know that, largely due to the arguments presented here and in your original post on this topic, I have decided to switch my vote from Nale to the IFCC. Congratulations, you have officially convinced someone on the internet that they were wrong about something.

[ti'esar]

The IFCC.

Nale.

[Bulldog Psion]

I would just like you to know that, largely due to the arguments presented here and in your original post on this topic, I have decided to switch my vote from Nale to the IFCC. Congratulations, you have officially convinced someone on the internet that they were wrong about something.

I wanted to put in a witty expression of astonishment, but I'm actually at a loss for words.

[Forealms]

Hold that thought. I agree with you that evil people can love. The problem is that Sabine isn't people in the strict sense of the word. She's an alien, eldritch embodiment of evil -- not a corrupted mortal, but a minor avatar of evil. She's malice made physical. It's pretty hard to imagine some thing like that succumbing to a more tender emotion even part of the time.

That's a very good point, but the Giant has made a point of avoiding creature stereotypes, especially with regard to Evil creatures. Also, I think Sabine has gone above and beyond to show (to the reader) her attachment for Nale, specifically here.

[ThomasMink]

I don't think Sabine is 'truly loyal' to either. I think she'd choose whichever will benefit her the most if she were to have to make such a decision. As of right now, I think that would be the IFCC. Nale needs to make a monumental amount of progress for that to change.

Nale. Not a big Blackwing fan.